


I'll Be Home For Christmas

by ShadowHaloedAngel



Series: One Night [13]
Category: Carol (2015), Ocean's 8 (2018), The House with a Clock in its Walls (2018)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff, Found Family, Girls Kissing, Home, Homecoming, Modern Era, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Road Trips, Team as Family, Time Travel, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:35:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29766657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowHaloedAngel/pseuds/ShadowHaloedAngel
Summary: It's been nearly thirty years, but sometimes even the biggest criminals just need to go home to their mothers. Christmas has a way of bringing emotions home to roost, and after a year like Debbie's had, sometimes she just needs a chance to find her roots again. We all come from somewhere, and sometimes, if you're lucky, there's a way to go home again. Sometimes home is what you make it, after all.
Relationships: Carol Aird/Florence Zimmermann, Lou Miller/Debbie Ocean
Series: One Night [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1416958
Comments: 15
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really know how to tag this one but I've done my best. I started writing this at the end of November with the intention of having it all done for Christmas but things didn't work out that way. Working on this is one of the things that's delayed the Out of Time update because to be quite honest with things as they are I just wanted to write about home and family and comforting things, rather than peril, but I didn't want to start posting this until I'd managed to wrap that one up. It's ridiculous, I know, but I hope you like it anyway.

"You know, I've been thinking..." Debbie began, and Lou glanced up from her book, eyebrow raised behind her fringe. 

"Well that always ends well for us."

"Shut up." Debbie kicked her lightly in the calf, still secretly savouring the way their legs were tangled together on the couch. "But seriously, I've been thinking... I mean... there's not really much else to do at the moment, is there? And... it's going to be my first Christmas since I got out..."

"Yeah, I guess it is," Lou agreed, though at least she was still watching Debbie rather than going back to her book on principle. 

"I mean, it's been a long time, for me. And it's going to be weird. I mean Danny's... well. Danny's not around. And we've got... friends, yeah, but..." Debbie swallowed. "I mean, it's a time for family, and aside from you, I haven't really got any, apart from..."

Lou opened her mouth, about to ask for clarification before it hit her and she stared. 

"...Really?"

"I mean... yeah..." Debbie swallowed, fidgeting a little. "I mean... are they even still alive? I haven't... I didn't ask... and we haven't been for..."

"Years," Lou finished, with a far away look on her face. "You know, you're right. I hadn't even thought about it. I should have."

"I mean... I like to think that they... would mostly just be proud of us, you know? Or, well, maybe not, given what I... where I've been, but..." Debbie swallowed, "I seem to keep hearing that the job of being a parent is to raise kids to be independent adults? And they did that. More than anything they did that."

"That's true..." Lou agreed cautiously. 

Debbie bit her lip and looked up, hair falling in wild, thick waves around her shoulders. 

"...Do you think it's ridiculous? I mean... I don't know, I just had a lot of time on my own to think and I just... I guess I want... I want them to tell me that it's okay. They're about the only people apart from you that I've ever believed that from. And it's been a rough couple of years and I just..."

"Want your mom," Lou finished quietly. 

Debbie nodded mutely, and Lou sighed, closing her book and shifting to face Debbie. 

"Deb... I mean... I don't disagree, actually. I think it would be... it would be nice. To see them. Maybe even to have them over for Christmas if they want to come, if they're able to come, and if they're still alive. There are a lot of ifs, that's all I'm saying."

"I know, but..." Debbie trailed off and shrugged, still looking hopeful. "We have to start somewhere, right?"

~

"Right, so I've got us a room at the National House Inn... It's a charming, Williamsburg-style room with a canopy bed, so you should feel right at home princess," Lou quipped as she loaded the bags into the boot of the car. 

Debbie looked up at her with narrowed eyes from where she had been staring at her phone screen trying to plot their route on google maps. 

"...Are you mocking me?"

"All the time," Lou replied easily, sliding into the driver's seat and pulling the door shut after her. "First night we're spending in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park because it's ten hours to New Zebedee and although that was fine when we did this in a mad rush at eighteen, I am too told to be willing to do that shit now."

"That's fair," Debbie agreed, pulling on her seatbelt and getting comfortable while Lou started the car up, leaning back with an arm around the back of Debbie's seat as she reversed smoothly out of their space and headed for the highway. 

"...So, when are they expecting us?" Lou asked when they'd been driving for a while, and Debbie blinked, looking around at her. 

"What?"

Lou's eyes slid over to her for a long moment before returning to the road. 

"...You did call them first, right?"

"...I don't have their number!"

"...Debbie, the phone book is an ancient technology which does, in fact, pre-date your time in prison. I thought we agreed you'd call them first."

"I thought you were going to call them!"

"...Great, so we're driving halfway across the country to see people who we're not even sure are still alive."

"...Well we can still have a nice romantic few days in the bed and breakfast...?"

"...Seriously. This was one thing when we were eighteen and we weren't sure. This is a whole different kettle of fish."

"Come on Lou, it's kind of fun recapturing our youth, wouldn't you say?"

"I can think of better ways."

"Spoilsport."

~

"This is nice..." Debbie sighed happily as she flopped back on the bed. Lou was trying to look unimpressed, but there was a fondness to the expression she couldn't quite shake as she put the bags on the luggage rack. 

"It is pretty sweet. Nice hotel and the town's got some interesting stuff, so even if... y'know, our actual mission doesn't come off... we can call it a winter break? Apparently there's a Museum of American Magic, which I find... pleasingly appropriate."

"Mmmm... I bet a town like this is going to be amazing... all spiced apple juice and mulled wine and gingerbread..." Debbie sighed wistfully and Lou rolled her eyes. 

"...Okay fine we can get some lunch."

Debbie lifted her head, still laying back on the bed and propped on her elbows, perking up for a moment before it faded into something like apprehension. 

"...Do you... think the diner's maybe still there?"

Lou shrugged. 

"If it's going to still be anywhere, it'll be here. Though I suspect the prices will have gone up."

She reached out a hand and Debbie took it, letting Lou haul her up off the bed. 

"C'mon, let's go find out."

It turned out the diner was still there, though it looked like it might have had a face lift since 1955. The snow was falling in a light dusting, and the streets were lined with lights. It was only a short walk from the hotel, and Lou had to admit she was glad they'd come. It had been a long drive, but the streets were familiar under her feet and she felt like the years were rolling back. Besides, Debbie with snow in her mane of chestnut hair and on her black wool coat, with Christmas lights in her eyes and a flush on her cheeks... that was the kind of sight which could make almost anything worth it. 

They managed to squeeze into a booth, and Lou looked around, swallowing a little as she remembered how it had been. Sometimes she still questioned whether any of it had been real, but she still had Debbie, and it would have been a hell of a shared hallucination. Besides, it wasn't the first time they'd come back. It was just... that it had been longer than they'd ever intended. Life had a way of happening that way. She just had to hope they'd understand, or perhaps, that they'd understood.

The waitress bustled over in a pink uniform with white collar and cuffs, an apron and a cap. Debbie just stared as she asked, "May I take your order?"

Lou waited a moment, tried kicking Debbie under the table, then sighed, quickly scanning over the menu. 

"Yeah, can we get... uhhh... the barbeque chicken burger for her and I'll take the beef burger with pulled pork. Sweet potato fries on both, please, and can we get an order of onion rings?"

"Sure thing ma'am, and can I get you ladies anything to drink?"

"Is that the old style soda fountain still going?"

"It is! It's a period piece, one of the original features, and it's definitely something we're very proud of!"

"Well then, I guess... we'll have to have some shakes," Lou smiled, her gaze sliding across the table to Debbie. "Can we get-"

"Bubblegum!" Debbie interrupted, and Lou and the waitress both blinked. She settled down a little in her seat and tried again. "I mean, can I get a bubblegum shake please?"

"Yes you can! And for you ma'am?"

Lou smiled a little, glancing over the list. "...I'll take a peach cobbler shake, thanks."

"I'll be right back with your drinks!" The waitress replied peppily, shoving her pen back into the curled ponytail which bobbed along behind her as she headed for the counter. 

Lou watched her go, trying to remember what decade she was in, and this time it was Debbie's turn to kick her under the table. 

"Hey, stop eyeing up the waitress!"

Lou grinned. 

"Can't help it, she's cute. Kinda looks like Tammy."

Debbie tilted her head, glancing after her. 

"...You know what? She does, you're right."

Lou took Debbie's hand and winked. 

"Besides, bubblegum, you know I only have eyes for you..."

"And here I thought you were peachy enough already..."

~

The old house certainly hadn't changed. That was comforting, in a way. It was still the same rich shade of purple, and Jonathan's house next door still looked the same too. 

The two of them stood at the end of the drive, staring up at it, breath misting in the air. It was starting to get dark, and the streetlights around them flickered into light, puddles of orange on the snow. They were leaning on each other like bookends, arms around each other's waists, and Lou squeezed Debbie subconsciously tighter as she took a deep breath and the cold air burned the back of her throat. It was funny how being back here crystallised some things which had seemed like distant hypotheticals. Suddenly there was cold dread pooling in the pit of her stomach at the thought that the women they were here for could be dead. The distance had made it easier, somehow, assuming they lived on eternal and unchanging and a security blanket she was always trying to never need again. 

She took another deep breath, squeezed Debbie one last time and pulled back enough to look her in the eye. 

"So. We doing this?"

Debbie glanced at the house and then back at Lou, nodding, both of them suddenly far more tentative than usual. 

"I guess so. I mean, it's why we're here, right?"

"It is, but will we like what we find?"

"No other way to find out, is there?"

"I guess not."

Lou hesitated briefly, then squared her shoulders just like she'd been doing since she was fourteen, and walked up the path to knock on the door.


	2. Chapter 2

"Minette, could you get that?" Florence called when she heard the knock at the door. The fudge on the stove was just at the perfect moment, and it could be touchy stuff. After a moment with no answer, she sighed and turned the heat off under the bowl, heading for the hall. She wiped her hands on her apron and opened the door, then froze, staring. 

The woman on the doorstep was no one she'd seen before, except... except that she was. It was the little things that were the same, the brittleness in her shoulders and the wariness in her eyes. The eyeliner was still there, but there was more skill in its application now, and the spiky blonde hair was more deliberate. Florence had a lifetime of seeing beneath the surface, and this wasn't that hard at all. 

She smiled and nodded slowly. 

"Well. It certainly took you long enough. Welcome home." She glanced back over Lou's shoulder to the slender brunette standing hesitantly back at the end of the path. "Welcome home, both of you."

Lou swallowed, once, twice, trying and failing to find words that didn't exist. Tears threatened to burn in her eyes, and it was ridiculous, it was stupid, because this was happy, this was a happy moment, and on top of that she didn't fucking cry but... fuck...

Before she could speak or move or shatter the shards of her composure any more, Florence had wrapped her in a hug and honestly Lou could have sworn she was fourteen all over again. Florence was thinner now, but her strength was the same, and the sheer relief that she was still alive, mingled with the fear Lou had been ignoring that she might not be, hit her all at once. 

"What is it, darling?" Carol asked on her way down the stairs, and then she stopped and smiled when she caught sight of the figure in the doorway, looking out beyond to see Debbie who had finally made her way closer. 

Florence stepped back from Lou, squeezing her shoulders with surprising firmness and smiling with tears glinting in her own eyes. 

"We have some visitors, minette..."

"So I see..." Carol smiled, finishing her descent and coming forward to greet both of them with proper hugs. "It's wonderful to see you both again..."

"Come through, I'll make some coffee..." Florence offered, heading back towards the kitchen. 

Lou swallowed and scuffed her boot against the floor, at once shy and cocky as she asked:

"Can we have some cookies too?"

"Of course, now come in before you both catch your deaths."

The chorus of "Yes ma'am" was both subconscious and automatic. Debbie and Lou stared at each other for a brief moment in surprise before surrendering to the inevitable and following Florence through into the kitchen. 

Before they knew it, they were seated around the kitchen table with mugs of coffee and a plate of cookies, and it felt for a moment as though no time had passed at all. If they'd learned anything as part of the unusual series of events by which they'd met, it was that time was, at best, relative. 

"So, what brings you two girls back to us?" Carol managed to ask after a moment, steadying her voice carefully and wrapping her hands tighter around her mug to have something to hold onto. 

Lou and Debbie both exchanged a look again, realising suddenly that they hadn't really planned anything to say. It really was like being fourteen again, when consequences were things that would happen to somebody else. 

"Well we... um..." Debbie began, and then the attempt at explanation petered out and she bit her lip. 

"...It'd been a while?" Lou offered, trying to ignore the way her voice shook. Florence reached out to cover Lou's hand with her own, no moment of hesitation in it. 

"And... and it's been... a year... for various reasons," Debbie picked back up, swallowing and staring at the table. "And I was just... we were just..."

"Feeling a little..."

"Lost?" Carol asked softly, and Debbie nodded, squeezing her mug so tight her knuckles went white as she tried to push the tears down. "Oh sweetheart..."

Carol's chair scraped across the floor as she pushed it back and wrapped Debbie in a hug. 

"There's no better place to come..."

"And this will always be your home, as long as you need it to be," Florence smiled, watching Lou. 

Lou nodded, once, twice, the movement so small as to be barely perceptible, then after a heartbeat she threw herself at Florence. It turned out that maybe you were never too old to need a hug from your mum. 

"Why don't you have a cookie and tell us all about it?"

~

"...Well. That's really quite the year," Florence observed when the entire sorry saga of the last twenty years had come pouring out in dribs and drabs. "You girls must have had quite the drive from New York?"

"Oh we... we weren't... well, we booked a bed and breakfast... and we took two days to get here... we weren't... exactly sure... well... uh..."

"Whether we were still alive?" Florence asked, one perfect eyebrow arched, her dry amusement undulled by the years. "I think it would be fair to say after the sequence of events that led to us meeting, Death herself is not exactly in a hurry to take us, and magic has a way of extending one's lifespan. I think it's fair to say that we're in no hurry to live forever, though."

"We weren't... I wasn't... sure... whether we could really..." Debbie burst out before she could stop herself, then she stopped abruptly, swallowing the words. When they came again they were softer, but no less raw. "...Come home. I didn't know if it could still... if you would still... I wasn't sure if I... deserved it."

"We will always love you," Florence said simply, after a moment. "And no, we have no intention of living forever, and perhaps our time will come. But it's not so unheard of these days for even mortals with no magic in their veins to live to this age. We will go when the time is right. And when your time is right, we will still be waiting for you."

"...Thank you..." Debbie whispered, swallowing again. 

"Well... this has been delightful, but it does seem to have accounted for most of the afternoon. I should probably make a start on dinner. I believe it's my turn to cook," Carol smiled, pushing her chair back from the table once more and making to stand. "Will you two girls be staying for dinner?"

Debbie and Lou traded a look again, back to the conspiracy of their teenage years. They hadn't been called girls in years, at least not by anybody who wasn't being a patronising sexist asshole about it. It was strangely comforting. 

"...Would we... uh... if it wouldn't be inconvenient?"

"Of course not, but you know the rules."

"I'll help cook," Debbie offered immediately. Lou stared at her for a long moment, blue eyes wide behind her messy fringe, but just as she always did, she shrugged and rolled with the punches. 

"...And I'll help clean up."

"Is there anything you'd like?" Carol asked with a smile, glancing between the two of them, and this time it was Debbie who found herself scuffing her foot across the floor. 

"...I... Could I maybe help you make Chicken a la King again?"

"My goodness I haven't had that in years... that would be wonderful, what a good idea!"

Florence smiled at Lou, gently bumping their legs together under the table. 

"Perhaps we should retreat to the living room and leave them in peace to talk?"

"Yeah," Lou agreed, nodding as she stood, offering Florence a hand almost without thinking about it as the older woman also rose. "Yeah, that sounds good. Thanks."

"Of course."


End file.
